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Rathick Dynar
Rathick Dynar was one of the Harbingers. He is a major antagonist of Darkness Rising. Rathick was killed in the Battle of the Morning on the Great Day when Trallten's Hounds defeated the Harbingers (1st Low-Spring, 2,062 H.R.). Lore Written by Jaehrin Relthin, Arch-Mage of Ghien. "WANTED, BY THE ORDER OF THE KING: An elderly man, with only a fringe of gray remaining of his once thick blond hair, but fit and dignified and proud. Although his face is highly expressive and can yield a wide array of emotions, Rathick has a cold, thin mouth beneath his long gray mustache and in his pale blue eyes is a predatory gleam. Handsome and tall, Rathick naturally draws the eye to him as if it is acknowledging an essential mastery, and yet one's gaze is held there not by awe but by fear. He is always clad in black traveler's clothing." - Proclamation of the Templar Knights. The symbol, drawn by Xenus and given to Harkness, signifies outward projection, the imposition of the self upon the cosmos. This could perhaps refer to one who seeks to reshape their reality around them. In terms of force and power, it signifies raw, almost overwhelming violence: a destroyer. In terms of morality and outlook it signifies a sensate, a libertine. And yet with such an endless outward onslaught, the center lacks foundation. As the head of the House of Dynar, the wealthiest and most powerful princely dynasty in Tarngeriath, it doubtless seemed obvious to Rathick that he was destined to become the First of Twelve and piss upon the wheel of fate. His talents as an actor and an artist served him well as he established an elaborate representational cult around himself, staging endless obscene national epics in which he obliterated the realms of All-Eth and avenged the ancient dishonor. Certainly, he used his wealth and stature to live a life of almost unimaginable comfort and pleasure. And yet, when Rathick was not even thirty, he became aware that a child from the House of Gautier had dreamed dark and unbelievable dreams, and spoke of things long secret, and leapt to mastery over the most complex of the Great Old Magics through seeming intuition alone. If Rathick feared that young Maynard had gifts far surpassing his own, these concerns were doubtless confirmed when as one of the elder "predestined" Rathick was assigned the traditional honor of serving as the tutor and guardian to another. It was then came the moment that you witnessed in the Keyhole, when Rathick, with young Maynard in his power, flirted with the thought of snuffing out his competitor. He could have done it; even with Maynard's strange and disturbing gifts, the amount of raw power Rathick could have drawn upon would have been enough to obliterate his new rival. Why did he stay his hand? Only Rathick could tell you. Certainly the necromantic guilds would have levied dire repercussions if they had discovered that they had lost one of the favored both promising and ominous in his abilities. Perhaps in young Maynard Rathick saw or sensed something that he himself could not explain: something that inflamed his thirst for power, or that made even him feel the beginnings of fear. But whatever the reason, he did not strike. Instead, Rathick guided Maynard in the intricacies of Soul Channel Magics and in the blasphemies of necromantic evil. Maynard must have studied and grasped much on his own, however, since his magic came from a wizard's measured arcane learning whereas his teacher's came from a sorcerer's freewheeling force of self. As the years passed and Maynard grew in power, Rathick carved out a favored position as confidante and advisor, the first established presence with which Maynard allied and the highest in his councils. As despite all his failings Maynard never suffered from a monstrous personality or a deadening of emotions, it would seem that real loyalty blossomed between the two. No doubt Rathick saw the plunder of nations and the promises of immortality in Maynard's plots. Together, in many blood-soaked and furtive wars they began to dismember any faction in Tarngeriath that opposed them. After the Harbingers crossed Father's Sea, Rathick was at the forefront of Maynard's foul designs. For it was he who first traveled to Atheria; after learning of that realm firsthand, he corrupted both the High King Nethinraust Blackden and Haghen, his heir, by teaching them the Soul Channel Magics, and so set them on a course to madness and war. He then crossed into Nalthand, where he was set to man the watch upon Idingast's apprentice by summoning the uridezu and infiltrating the local authorities employing his considerable skills in acting. There, at Fairley Manor, Rathick crossed paths with you, on the first day of your quest. If your investigation and slaying of the uridezu prevented his reassignment to another area, your close proximity also enabled him to feed Maynard information about you from the very beginning. When Maynard began his rampage in earnest, he naturally entrusted his tutor and oldest ally with some of the most critical tasks. It was Rathick who burned the sacred tree at Grand Daur, dragging the False Yewing War to new depths of carnage and waste. He summoned Moloch and Geryon to kill the Dukes Aldrich and Maldred; this, of course, convinced King Wellest to send Sir Godfrey in aid, thus opening the window for the (failed) assassination of the King, scattering Wellest's soul and removing him from the events of the day. Rathick, it would seem, constructed the Axial Tower, and gathered there the foul energy from the Obsidian Claws across Jenaerus. When Maynard launched his bid to flood the ley-lines, stopped only by Melethiel's bravery, it was Rathick who received the great column of Soul Channel energy at that tower and redirected it southwards, defiling the ley-lines in a terrible blasphemy. Due to his many years at Maynard's side, Rathick was gifted the second mightiest wyrm in their armies: Hargannath the Imperious. At the Second Siege of Zur-Algar, Rathick held the command and drove the dragons onward in assault as he unleashed all his arcana from the rear; the ruin of their onslaught claimed thousands of Nalthandian and dwarven lives. Among all the victims of this horrifying arcane conflagration, best known to you were the leaders of the Nalthandian flanks: Sir Owyn Aldebourne and Lord Fernt. It was Hargannath also that annihilated Duke Bertrand and his griffon when the dragon brought ruin within the mountain. Rathick was even sent to treat with Belial, securing his allegiance and his forces to garrison the Axial Tower. By deduction, then, it was almost certainly Rathick who secured the original infernal alliances with Moloch, Geryon, and Bel. But of all these crimes and obscenities, perhaps none is so black as what occurred at the Axial Tower in the caverns below. For in spell-enslaving Melthar (and chaining him as a dog), Rathick secretly gained the mastery over the goblins of Maldo. With their leader as a puppet around which his race continued to gather, Rathick orchestrated one of the greatest horrors in Jaen history: his devils drove over forty million goblins into the oblivion of the Negative Energy Plane to feed the Soul Channel. Even Maynard never visited the portals where this crime was carried out. Perhaps he could not bear to witness it. Statistics Rathick Dynar: '''Male human Sor20; CR 20; Medium humanoid (human); HD 20d4+80; hp 131; Init +9; Spd 30 ft.; AC 28, touch 20, flat-footed 23; Base Atk +10; Grp +9; Atk +14 melee (1d8+4/x3, spear) or +20 ranged (1d10+5/19-20, heavy crossbow); Full Atk +14/+9 melee (1d8+4/x3, spear) or +20 ranged (1d10+5/19-20, heavy crossbow); SA summon familiar; Space/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; AL NE; SV Fort +18, Ref +21, Will +20; Str 8, Dex 20, Con 19, Int 16, Wis 14, Cha 31. ''Skills and Feats:' ''Bluff +33, Concentration +27, Diplomacy +12, Intimidate +12, Knowledge (arcana) +26, Perform +21, Profession (actor) +25, Sleight of Hand +7, Spellcraft +28; Great Fortitude, Greater Spell Focus (evocation), Greater Spell Penetration, Improved Counterspell, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Spell Focus (evocation), Spell Penetration. 'Spells Known (Per Day) (6/9/9/8/8/8/8/7/7/7; save DC 20 + spell level, or 22 + spell level for evocation): 0''- arcane mark, prestidigitation, open/close, message, detect magic, read magic, mage hand, mending, light; 1''- expeditious retreat, magic missile, true strike, mage armor, shield; ''2- mirror image, protection from arrows, resist energy, Melf’s acid arrow, false life; 3''- fireball, lightning bolt, ray of exhaustion, protection from energy; ''4- stoneskin, ice storm, fire shield, solid fog; 5''- cone of cold, stop heart, resonating resistance, telekinesis; ''6- greater dispel magic, freezing sphere, chain lightning; 7''- forcecage, power word (blind), death by thorns; ''8- ''polar ray, power word (stun), maze;'' 9- ''meteor swarm, crushing sit of spite, power word (kill). ''Possessions'': 'Alhax (weasel familiar), ''amulet of health ''+6, 100 bolts, bracers of armor +8, Circlet of Mastery'' (+6 intelligence, +5 resistance bonus to saves),'' ''cloak of charisma +6, gloves of dexterity +6, +5 heavy crossbow, incandescent blue ioun stone, orange ioun stone, ring of evasion, ring of protection +5, robe of stars, scrolls of dimensional anchor (4), dimension door, mislead, symbol of weakness, greater teleport (2), prismatic spray (3), greater heroism (7),'' symbol of stunning, iron body, moment of prescience, mass charm monster, prismatic wall'' (2), Mordenkainen’s disjunction ''(2), and time stop, +5 spear, winged boots.'' Category:Human Category:Tarngeriath Category:Neutral Evil Category:Sorcerer Category:Deceased Category:Character